one and a half

This weekend we are celebrating that Evie is one and a half. I am now already thinking about her second birthday and what we will want to do. For now we are loving our very sassy, independent, smart, and book loving kiddo.

I thought it was about time I share about her first birthday party. Since Evie has a winter birthday we cant do things like a bbq, and fill up a back yard with everyone. We actually did two birthday parties for her. One with family, and one with friends and all their kids. This way our little town house was not insanely crowded, it was still very full both parties, but it was much more manageable.

I was up late the night of the first birthday party finishing some of the decorations. I made a little bunting banner that said one and hung it from her high chair, and I made a ribbon background to put behind her. One of the parties also had a photo string with photos of Evie from the day she was born to her first birthday photo shoot. As you can see the colours were blues and red. We had the colours in as many places as we could.

Costco is the best place to go shopping for food to feed an army of hungry people. We loaded up on all sorts of warm appetizers, and had veggie and fruit trays. I made cupcakes for both parties, and did the little smash cake for one myself. I found did an icing for the smash cake and cupcakes that was mostly whipping cream. This way there was no crazy amounts of sugar involved, and the little kids didn’t end up with a sugar buzz after eating one. The one with penguins on it I ordered from Safeway thanks to a tip from a friend of ours. They have little cakes in all sorts of themes for really great prices.

Evie did a cake smash in her high chair at both birthday parties. The first one she had a little moment, but it was not her fault at all. We were singing happy birthday to her, and she decided to put the candle out on her cake with her little fingers. Thankfully she was not burned, we had rushed her over to the sink and ran water over it right away. We re-sang happy birthday after, minus the candle, and she happily but very daintily dug into her cake. Watching kids of all ages eat cake or especially cupcakes is so entertaining. Have you ever noticed how each one has their own technique? Some lick off all the icing and leave the cake behind, some chomp right in, and others even split the cupcake in half and squash the icing in the middle so its like an oreo cookie.

While some might not agree to having such a big birthday celebration, yet alone two, I wanted those who were near and dear to us and Evie to be able to celebrate with us. Her second birthday will probably be much smaller. Each party day it was like Evie knew something special was about to happen. Once I changed her into her pretty party dress she waited by the door in the living room and kept checking out the window to see if anyone was there. She got so excited when people started to arrive. It warmed my heart so much to see so much love heaped onto her. Evie, you are so loved by so many people.

Evie is such a people person that she did not want to go to bed when her bedtime rolled around. She happily continued to interact with everyone. She  loved when a few of the toys were opened up for her to play with, but she really loved going around and visiting with everyone. She got a lot of cuddles both party days. We cannot thank everyone enough for making her birthday so special.

Looking at all these photos 6 months later, I was so surprised to see how much she has changed and grown. She really is a toddler now. No more major chubby chipmunk cheeks, and her leg rolls are disappearing. We are looking forward to celebrating many, many more birthdays with this incredible girl.

Love you lots Evie!